Archive for November, 2008

Definitive Characters (BB182)

Sunday, November 30th, 2008

Supply the right synonym for each clue below, and your four answers will reveal the chief characters of a world-famous children’s book.
Hassle
Traitor
Wretch
Spy
SOLUTION NEXT WEEK
BB181 SOLUTION: Ocean’s Eleven, Runaway Bride, The Departed, Two Hands, Changing Lanes, Taxi Driver, Great Expectations, Stranger Than Fiction, Die Another Day, Minority Report, Cold Mountain

Velocity

Thursday, November 27th, 2008

There should be a word for it.
You know the feeling – the morning after a data overload. Mine came courtesy of a an all-day seminar called The Future of Journalism, and right now my brain is semi-concussed. Like a sharp one-two from a media 2020.
Dazed, I won’t try to delineate each session. Rather, […]

Grandmother Tongue

Monday, November 24th, 2008

“Phew, that kitty litter is downright olid!”
No, I’m not talking Siamese, but endangered English, our mother tongue with an inbuilt caducity – or perishableness.
In order to make room for some 2000 new words (like wii and wiki and frappuccino), Collins English Dictionary is facing a reluctant spring-clean – in with the new, and out […]

Rd Crpt (BB181)

Sunday, November 23rd, 2008

If CAE BLNCHETT = The Aviator, can you deduce these other movies, where each featured actor has their film’s initials (in order) missing from their name?
GERGE CLOONY
JULIA OERTS
MAT AMON
HEA LEDGER
TONI OLETTE
ROBER E NIRO
ALEC UINNSS
DUIN HOFMAN
ME JUI DENCH
TO CUISE
NIOLE KIDAN
SOLUTION NEXT WEEK
BB180 SOLUTION: Ma is a nun as I am

Pull the Other One

Wednesday, November 19th, 2008

Q: Why did the scientist install a knocker on his door?
A: He wanted to win the No-Bell Prize

Doing the maths, that riddle came at a cost of 8 and 1/2 cents. Compared to the lavish 22 cents of this rib-tickler:
Q: What do you get if you cross a stereo with a refridgerator [sic]?
A: Cool music
Crunching […]

Matchless Play

Tuesday, November 18th, 2008

Times crossword 8222, appearing a few weeks back in The Australian, had some majestic clues. Among them, I’m tempted to nominate the year’s best:
Lands round front of green: God! About seven feet for an eagle (8)
For those daring to solve the clue, here’s a letter breakdown:
__ __ N __ S __ […]

Mercy Me (BB180)

Sunday, November 16th, 2008

Met an old friend at the school reunion who’d become a Sister of Mercy. Equally surprising, her mother had chosen the same sacred path. Can you compose the palindrome (2,2,1,3,2,1,2) she uttered to describe this new vocational twist?
SOLUTION NEXT WEEK
BB179 SOLUTION: Wedge/wood (Wedgwood pottery)

Google Medals [Gold]

Friday, November 14th, 2008

Mumbai gigolo on the road waiting for their customer
Jeez that phrase went close to making the Gold-Class Googlers for 2007/2008. However, after close consultation with the snickometer, the umpire has plumped for this lot. Howzem?
The Ten Weirdest Key-Words To Lead To This Blog
Canyon Country Dental Insurance
Preloved organs
Jamie Oliver Taree police
Stonehenge replica wallpaper
Zabaglione pregnant
Fatality stilts
Psychic monkey […]

Google Medals [Silver]

Wednesday, November 12th, 2008

Rodential
Aardvark
Unshaded
Nonirritant
A random sample of some single keywords that have unlocked this blog over the last calendar year. Yet none cuts the mustard compared to the following bunch of esoterica, each inquiry bringing you browsers this way.
As you can see, the last post was the Bronze Googlers, while today is the odder set of search terms. […]

Google Awards 2007/08 [Bronze]

Monday, November 10th, 2008

Kidnap skit
Smoking foxes
Fluoro pingpong ball
Just a taste of the keywords that you crazy surfers have used to chance by Cassowary Crossing over the last year. Yet none qualifies among the 30 strangest.
As you’ll see.
Today’s Bronze Google Medals are devoted to the less-than-common search terms used over the last 12 months. In coming posts I’ll be […]